Senator Imee R. Marcos has sought the abolition of two government agencies – Procurement Service of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) and Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) – because they have become irrelevant in the current times or has become a breeding ground of graft and corruption.

Earlier, Senator Joel Villanueva also pressed for the scrapping of the two agencies.

Marcos said her measure (Senate Bill 2388) seeks to address ‘’the systemic corruption in the PS-DBM.’’

‘’As such (it) should be abolished as it has outlived its functions,’’ she added.

The PITC, according to Marcos, has become ‘’a repository for unobligated funds of national government agencies and as such should be abolished as it has outlived its functions for the national government.’’

` PITC is under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The two agencies were recently cited in the ongoing public hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee for the mishandling of government funds.

In her bill, Marcos sought the abolition of PS-DBM which was created by her father, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, in 1978 to buy common use office supplies such as bond paper and printers for various government agencies. ’’

PS-DBM has also become a ‘’fertile breeding ground of graft and corruption,’’ she pointed out.

PS-DBM is now at the center of controversy with Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon describing it as the hub of ‘’premeditated plunder’’ because of overpriced purchases of COVID-19 medical supplies using the P42 billion COVID-19 response fund of the Department of Health (DOH).

The medical supplies include face shields, face masks, personal protective equipment and other pandemic-related purchases.

Marcos said the passage of Republic Act 9184, or the ‘’Government Procurement Reform Act’’, undermines the mandate of PS-DBM ‘’through the inclusion of relevant provisions that seeks to strengthen the procurement service of national government agencies.’’

The law tasks the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) to strengthen the Bids and Awards committees by ensuring ‘’that procuring entities regularly conduct procurement training programs and prepare a procurement operation manual for all offices and agencies of the government.’’

Marcos explained that PITC was originally crafted as a mechanism to formalize trade with planned economies through government-to-government procurement.

‘’The Philippines has moved away from government-to-government trade as exemplified by the passage of Republic Acrt 11203, or the ‘’Rice Tariffication Law’’ on February 14, 2019, among others,’’ she explained.

Marcos cited a 2020 annual audit of PITC which stated that P11.02 billion of funds transferred from 2014 to 2020 by various source agencies remain unutilized as of December 31, 2020.

‘’There are reports of source agencies using the interest of money transferred to PITC to generate savings, which are used by the source agency to fund bonuses, among other,’’ she added.

‘’The trade liberalization thrust of the global economy has made the mandate of PITC archaic and irrelevant in the current times,’’ she stressed.

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